In 2025, fire departments serving Monticello responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Monticello's departments reported 40 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 79 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
395 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 95 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | -20.0% | |
| 2023 | 100 | +31.6% | |
| 2024 | 84 | -16.0% | |
| 2025* | 40 | — |
* Well below Monticello's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Monticello departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 105 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 31.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 20 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 21.9% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Monticello mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 12 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Monticello departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Monticello sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,410 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 39.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55362 | 395 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Monticello. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.